Just because I'm fury now doesn't mean I haven't played other specs. Just because I'm NE now doesn't mean I have always been so (best alliance warrior racial btw)
I daresay I have quite a bit more warrior experience than you, all done without an entire bar devoted to consumables.
For vanity, and because the difference is slight and it was already bound
As to the helm and spec comment; expertise is double the value of hit before the soft cap and of even greater value than hit past soft cap (it effects specials whereas hit past soft cap only effect white damage), the spec is not crit based so I made the decision to lose the 4 crit rating. 4 parry isn't bad with all the meleé in the bracket, plus it looks better anyway. If I felt rage starved then I would take battle trance, since I don't find myself lacking rage and prefer gearing for a little more HP blood craze is the natural choice.